Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Irma was an enormous hurricane that affected the majority of the Caribbean and places in America such as Florida. The overall damage has added up to $64 billion. Homes in the Caribbean have been destroyed as they are made out of weak materials which means in such strong winds, they were bound to get knocked down. It lasted as a hurricane from August 31 until September 11. The storm, which stretched 650 miles from east to west, affected at least nine US states, turning streets into rivers, ripping down power lines, uprooting trees and cutting off coastal communities.

On September 6, Hurricane Irma left a string of small Caribbean islands devastated. The eye of the hurricane passed over Barbuda damaging about 95% of the buildings on the island. The people in the Caribbean are often less wealthy than those who live in Florida so their houses were less sturdy and Irma left behind what looked like a trail of random materials scattered around the ruined landscape. But, it’s actually people's lives, homes and families that are now ruined. The hurricane hit South West Florida on September 10, battering the state's lower half and leaving a trail of tornadoes and storm-surge flooding as its eye slowly moved inland. The massive storm triggered evacuation orders for 5.6 million people before it made two landfalls.

It is believed that the death toll for hurricane Irma was at least 110, a shocking statistic given that these people will have all had families and people who cared about them who will now be in a huge amount of shock and mourning as they lose their loved ones. However, some people who died chose to not leave their homes after they were told to evacuate (Florida.) This was a mistake, and a foolish one at that.

In response, The UK has given £32 million in disaster relief and have made it their responsibility to help the US. The UK government website have pages and pages worth of writing on how they have assisted the US. The webpage is accessible to everyone. The UK have helped using, military, aircrafts, troops even sent down dogs to help sniff out any survivors in all the affected areas. They have also brought with them thousands of sets of basic hygiene products for those who have lost absolutely everything in this disaster. Also, as in most disasters, people have made go fund me pages for their family members, friends and charities.

The impacts of the event can be divided into two categories: short term and long term. The short term impacts included 60% of homes across Florida left without power with flooding in cities such as Jacksonville and Miami. Zoo animals, and people, had to be evacuated. Whole cities were evacuated (e.g Savannah in Georgia.) This led to people looting shops, criminals looting homes and a loss of tourism. In the long term homes and the landscape was ruined with infrastructure destroyed and financial damage costing billions. Puerto Rico faced months without power and 1.2 million people were affected across the Caribbean. There was damage to sewer and water lines through flooding and trees and plants had to be replanted. The destruction of the port damaged trade and stocks dropped. A total of 110 deaths culminated from this tragedy.

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